Pond Chemicals

Basic Advice for Keeping Your Pond's Chemical Level Balanced

Owning a backyard pond involves the careful maintenance of chemical balances in the water - at least if you want to keep your plants and fish healthy!

The chart below is a basic guideline to the desired chemical levels in your pond water:

Chlorine

less than .05 ppm

Oxygen

more than 5 ppm

Ammonia

less than 0.1 ppm

Nitrites

less than 0.2 ppm

pH

6.5 -9

Alkalinity

50 - 170 ppm

Hardness

75 - 150 ppm

Salinity

0.1 - 0.3%

Phosphates

algae blooms

Copper

less than 0.1 ppm

There are a number of different pond chemical products on the market to keep your pond chemically safe for your fish. Each of them perform different jobs and it can be confusing for pond care beginners.

Some products, like Accu-Clear, are designed to clear cloudy water. Some color the water to absorb more sunlight to help the growth of aquatic weeds and submerged algae; while others darken the water to prevent too much sunlight to allow safer living for fish and algae growth. There are chemicals that are used to increase and decrease the pH level to precise levels, for the safest living of your plants. Ammonia can also pose a problem in garden ponds and it needs to be eliminated.

Different chemicals must be applied on different schedules, so be sure to ask before you purchase or read what it says on the package for the proper application procedures.

Algae is one of the most important factors that need to be controlled and there are many different ways to do it. Be absolutely sure that you check with a pond specialist or someone working at the store when you purchase your chemicals to make sure you have all the right ones.

If you are filling your pond for the first time, the task of balancing the water can be daunting. The first thing to remember is not to be overly eager and introduce pond fish right away. Get your water balanced first, including temperature, and then you are likely to have more success. You can put gravel down before you fill, but turn the filter on and allow the impurities to be removed. If you are using city water there will be chlorine in it, the chlorine will dissipate over a few days, but to make the process quicker you can get pond chemicals to remove it. For well water, test your water so you know what to expect. If you are adding water that has been evaporated, my advice is to add a bit at a time; chlorine is not good for a fish pond and neither are drastic temperature changes.